Spotify and Tinder: Marketing match made in heaven?

Spotify is everywhere with big investments in ads in the outdoor space, but we spotted another brand in their ads...

Spotify launched in India on February 27 with 40 million tracks to choose from and the advertising that followed in Mumbai and Delhi drew emphasis on their playlist offering, but one particular ad caught our attention...

Spotify acquired special permission to use Tinder's name in their ads
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We spoke to the folks at Leo Burnett, the agency Spotify appointed to handle marketing in India and we found out that there is no "official" partnership between Spotify India and Tinder India for this campaign. However, the team mentioned that Spotify has taken special permission from Tinder to use the brand name for this particular campaign.

While editing their Tinder profile, Spotify users have an option of displaying their musical preferences with an 'anthem'
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Spotify helps you with a list of popular songs a user can choose as his anthem
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Taking it a step further, Spotify India and Tinder India exchanged some friendly banter on Twitter. Tinder India tweeted about Spotify's third party integration into the dating app...

Link Spotify to your Tinder profile and add your Anthem 🎵 pic.twitter.com/SFv56EMHwz

— Tinder India (@Tinder_India) March 15, 2019

To which Spotify India replied...

*Swipes right*

— Spotify India (@spotifyindia) March 15, 2019

Tinder India had the last word in the exchange.

*It's a match* 🔥

— Tinder India (@Tinder_India) March 15, 2019

Spotify is pushing their Indian playlists in a big way. Playlists have been curated to include top hits in multiple languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Punjabi. Playlists will also include music from popular Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood films. The app will also look at the songs that are trending in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai with algorithmic playlists.

Spotify's India ads include a local flavour
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"Spotify's arrival in India is a big step forward in our overall global growth strategy," says Cecilia Qvist, Spotify's global head of markets. "A fundamental piece of that strategy is staying connected to global culture while allowing room for local adaptation and we've certainly achieved that with our India launch. We've worked closely with local teams of researchers, engineers and cultural tastemakers to ensure this global product is going to be loved, used and favoured by people all over India, whether they're listening to local Bollywood and Punjabi hits or discovering curated global playlists of K-pop or Brazilian funk."

The announcement film that Leo Burnett created for the launch of Spotify in India had quite a few global flavours while retaining a desi touch.

Spotify India's launch film was conceptualised by Leo Burnett

To celebrate Holi, Spotify took to social media for a digital campaign called #PacketMeinPlaylist. The visuals featured plastic packets of powdered colour. Opening the search tab in the Spotify app allowed users to scan the unique code on the virtual packet and it would accordingly open a Spotify playlist in the app. Spotify used this campaign to highlight their offerings in different languages.

The packets looked a little something like this:-

Holi scene ekdum sorted. Hum hai na. Have you opened your packet yet? #HappyHoli2019 #PacketMeinPlaylist

A post shared by Spotify India (@spotifyindia) on Mar 20, 2019 at 4:39am PDT

The red packet led to a playlist of Holi-themed Hindi songs

Beats pe rang barsenge. Hindi hits pe khelo Holi.
1) Screengrab this colour packet.
2) Go to the search bar in Spotify.
3) Click on the camera icon and choose 'Select from photos'.
4) Scan and discover your playlist.#HappyHoli2019 #PacketMeinPlaylist pic.twitter.com/i8pi55NTZf

— Spotify India (@spotifyindia) March 20, 2019

The purple packet housed Punjabi songs...

Groove to the Punjabi boliyan this Holi ya.
1) Screengrab this colour packet.
2) Go to the search bar in Spotify.
3) Click on the camera icon and choose 'Select from photos'.
4) Scan and discover your playlist.#HappyHoli2019 #PacketMeinPlaylist pic.twitter.com/kQczpPb6pE

— Spotify India (@spotifyindia) March 20, 2019

The yellow packet held Tamil songs...

Holi hai. Dappankuthu moves banta hai.
1) Screengrab this colour packet.
2) Go to the search bar in Spotify.
3) Click on the camera icon and choose 'Select from photos'.
4) Scan and discover your playlist.#HappyHoli2019 #PacketMeinPlaylist pic.twitter.com/PoPfSPN7Rd

— Spotify India (@spotifyindia) March 20, 2019

And the green packet was full of Telugu songs...

We got some bops for you, Bava.
1) Screengrab this colour packet.
2) Go to the search bar in Spotify.
3) Click on the camera icon and choose 'Select from photos'.
4) Scan and discover your playlist.#HappyHoli2019 #PacketMeinPlaylist pic.twitter.com/yj7HA9a7G9

— Spotify India (@spotifyindia) March 20, 2019

Spotify India's leg is different from what they have to offer in other markets. This is the first time that Spotify Free will allow smartphone users to play every song on demand. Going premium for Rs 119 a month will open up a host of features like offline listening and track downloads.

ALSO READ: afaqs! Creative Showcase: We spotted some international ads for Spotify...

Spotify will be competing with the likes of Apple Music, Google Play Music Times Internet's Gaana, Reliance-acquired Saavn, Airtel's Wynk, Hungama Digital's Hungama Music and others.